Apparatus for cleaning castings and the like



1941- F. c. c. w. ECKLER ETAL 2,267,018

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CASTINGS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 10, 1957 I 3 Sheets-Sheet l u ,m L/ I 71 5 60 I 3/ i r- T T13 E: z

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APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CASTINGS AND THE LIKE 7 Filed Aug. 10, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ifivenfo m; FCC. W. Ear r22, H. JcAuZZ 311d R. 14.6. Rlzgge I il arhe M'lnesses Dec. 23, 1941- F. c. c. w. ECKLER ET AL APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CASTINGS AND THE LIKE I: Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 10, 1937 [R Fig.3.

I ve'n1'bhs; EC. C. W. EckZer Will-less es Patented Dec. 23, 1941 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CASTINGS AND THE LIKE Friedrich Carl Christoph Wilhelm Eckler, Hellmut Schulze, and Robert Heinrich Simon Riigge, Hamburg, Altona, Germany, assignors to Alfred 'Gutmann Aktiengesellschaft fiir Maachinenbau, Hamburg, Altona, Germany Application August 10, 1937, Serial No. 158,402 In Germany September 8, 1936 ZCIaims.

The invention relates to the cleaning or other.

treatment of an article such as a fabricated article or piece of work by flinging on to it, by meansof a rotating impeller, an abrasive such as sand.

According to the invention, the impeller itself is made to act as a conveyor for the abrasive after the fashion of a centrifugal blower, so that theabrasive is not only thrown off by the impeller but also sucked up by it. For this purpose the inlet or eye of the impeller may be connected in a substantially air-tight manner to a pipe through which the abrasive is supplied tolt. In the preferred form of apparatus according to the invention, the feed pipe for the abrasive is connected to a container into which the abrasive drops or is conveyed after it has acted on the article so that the abrasive is constantly in circulation under the action of the suction effect 'or centrifugal force or is conveyed by its own weight.

The lower end of the feed pipe preferably communicates with the atmosphere and by an adjustable aperture to a container for collecting the abrasive.

The impeller conveniently moves with respect to the article being treated in addition to rotating about its own axis. Thus the impeller may be made to reciprocate or the support for the article may be moved with respect to the impeller, or the impeller or the support or both may execute a swinging or pivoting movement. In one form of apparatus in accordance with the invention, the impeller is moved, in addition to rotating about its own axis, against the directional force of the impeller body, e. g., it can be so rotated that the gyroscopic axis carries out v a rotation about the centre of gravity, for in stance, so that the ejected abrasive describes a solid of revolution, for example, a cone, the height of which in the direction of the rotary axis runs through the centre of gravity of'the gyroscope at right angles to the gyro axis. The

impeller may for this purpose, for example,'be accommodated in a casing which is rotatable about a vertical axis, while the axis of rotation of the impeller is horizontal.

The impeller may be driven by means of-an' electric motor to which current may be con-- The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate two examples of apparatus made in accordance with it. In these drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical section through one form;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 'R-R of Fig. 3 of another form, in which the impeller executes a rotary movement about each of two axes at right angles to one another, and

Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of the form of Fig. 2.

Referring first to the example illustrated in Fig. 1. an impeller 6 arranged in a casing I is carried on a shaft 2 which is provided with a groove pulley 3 and is mounted in bearings 4. The impeller 5 has two side walls 6 and I. At the external periphery of the impeller 5 between the side walls 6 and l are provided delivery branches 8 which owing to the fact that they are subject to considerable wear are conveniently made so as to be replaceable. An admission branch or bend ill for the sand or other abrasive projects centrally into the central part 9 or eye of the impeller 5. This admission branch or bend is preferably, capable of pivoting or of being adjusted and is sealed in a substantially airtight manner with respect to the rotating part of the side wall 1 by a stufling box II or other suitable packing.

A bend I2 is connected to the bend it and to the bend i2 is connected the feed pipe 13 for the abrasive, which pipe is connected at the bottom to the atmosphere by way of the aperture It and preferably adjustable, is provided between thepipe l3 and the container I5. A turn-table or other support H, for the article to be treated, is arranged under the surface sprayed by the abrasive beneath the impeller 5. The abrasive falls, conveniently by its own weight, into the container l5 byway of a chute l8.

In order to put the apparatus into operation the opening 16 is closed, the container l5 filled with abrasive, and the impeller 5 set into rotation. A stream of air is sucked, in the manner of a centrifugalblower, through the aperture H, the piping l3, l2 and lllfinto thepart 9 and is ejected from the exit 8 by centrifugal force. If the opening I6 is now opened abrasive is carried with the air from the container and flung on to the article. The flung-oil abrasive falls back into the container l5 and is automatically kept in circulation until the apparatus is stopped. By adjusting the cross section of the opening I8,

ity resulting from the suction effect. ,It is therefore a question to some extent of a combined blast and centrifugal action.

In the example of Figs. 2 and 3 the impeller S rotates not only about the axis KK but also about the axis R-R. In this form of construction also the impeller 5 has side walls 6 and 1 between which replaceable discharge branches 8 are arranged. The impeller 5 is mounted on ball bearings 19, is accommodated in a casing I, and is rotated by means of a motor 20 (Fig. 3) about stub pipes 21. Two conveyor bends l project through these pipes 2i and into the central chamber 9 of the impeller 5. The exit openings of these bends are combined into a single exit opening 22, as shown in Fig. 2. The impeller is sealed by the packing H. In the example illustrated the bends ID are connected by two curvedpipes23toaY-shaped piece 24 arranged on the vertical-axis RR, to which piece 24 is connected a branch 25 which is provided with slip rings 26 for receiving the current for the motor 20. The casing i itself runs on ball bearings 21 and is provided at its upper part with a bevel wheel 28 which is driven by a bevel wheel 29 or in some other suitable manner. The drive can be enclosed by a cover 30 through which a branch 3! passes into the inside of the branch 25 of the abrasive pipe in such a manner that it is properly sealed and the casing I with the devices accommodated within it is able ,to rotate freely about the branch 3|. Piping 32 for the abrasive runs from the branch 8! into a container l5 and to an aperture ll communicating with the atmosphere in the manner already described with reference to Fig. 1.

The abrasive which is iniected from the discharge branches 8 and impinges upon the surfaces of the article upon a support I? is in this case also conveyed back into the container I! by a chute l8 and is thus kept in constant circulation in the device. Here also the same advantages are obtained as with the apparatus of Fig. 1, with the difl'erence that the cone of abrasive 33 ,(Fig. 3) which is ejected rotates continuously about the axis R-R so that it describes a solid of revolution and the surface of the article is struck by the ejected abrasive on all sides.

The apparatus according to the invention is suitable-not only for the cleaning of pieces of work but also for all other purposes for which sand blasting has hitherto been employed, for example for the frosting, matting or drilling of glass, for-surface ornamentation or the like. Granular abrasives other than sand, such for example as corundum or the like, may be employed.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for subjecting action of an abrasive by flinging the abrasive against said article comprising a rotary impeller above the supply of abrasive, means for vertically supplying abrasive to said impeller so that said abrasive is sucked in against gravity by said impeller admixed with air, a rotary structure supporting said impeller, an electric motor driving said impeller, slip rings on said structure, and electrical connections between said slip rings and said motor.

2. Apparatus for subjecting an article to the action of an abrasive by flinging the abrasive against said article comprising a rotary impeller above the supply of abrasive, means for vertically supplying abrasive to said impeller so that said abrasive is sucked in against gravity by said impeller admixed with air, a rotary structure supporting said impeller, a supply pipe for the abrasive, a connection between said supply pipe and part of said structure, an electric motor driving said impeller, slip rings on said structure surrounding said connection, and electrical connections between said slip rings and said motor.

FRIEDRICH CARL CHRISTOPH WILHELM ECKLER.

HELLMUT SCHULZE.

ROBERT HEINRICH SIMON RiiGoE.

an article to the 

